1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an improved dough divider. The dough divider may be provided as an accessory of, or an attachment to, an existing dough mixer, or may be provided integrally with the dough mixer.
2. Prior Art
In medium to large bakeries, bread dough is produced by the following methods:
(A) Dough is mixed in a dough mixer, usually of the spiral beater type, where the dough is removed either by hand, by cutting it out of the bowl; or by removing the bowl, lifting the bowl several meters and inverting it to deposit the mixed dough into a chute or hopper of an automatic dough divider, where the dough is divided into portions. In some cases, the entire mixer is lifted and inverted to permit the dough to enter the divider hopper.
The divider works by means of a square or half-round piston drawing dough into a cavity by suction, the dough is then trapped in the cavity by a sliding knife blade. The trapped dough, which could weigh approximately two kilograms, is highly compressed and force into another cavity whereby as much air as possible is displaced from the dough. This pocket then moves away from the piston cutting off a set volume of dough, and because most of the air has been dispelled, the dough is therefore a set weight.
(B) In some instances, a pre-weighed large portion of dough is placed in one large cavity, whereby the dough is compressed by raising the platform on which it is placed, and the dough is then divided by means of a honeycomb arrangement of blades, thus cutting the dough into set portions. This machine is compact and relatively inexpensive to manufacture; however, dough portions still need to be pre-weighed, the dough must still be removed manually from the mixer before dividing, and the divider will only produce dough pieces weighing from 200-900 grams. As bread rolls require pieces weighing from 40 grams to 120 grams, a separate divider is required for rolls.
Typically, an automatic divider of the type discussed in (A) above, costs $AU30,000, while the dough divider of method (B) will typically cost approximately $AU12000-15000; and a divider for buns will cost a further $AU12000 approximately.